WARNING: SECOND-TO-LAST CHAPTER OF OLYMPIANS AT HEART. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
So I went and discovered some reviews. Being happy, I thought everything would be alright if I read them. Original setting, interesting, blah, blah, blah. Much to my surprise, I got flamed on my style of Lina/Gourry and Amelia/Zelgadis in this fiction... big time. I would like to thank this random anonymous reviewer who was so bluntly honest that they put me into such a bad and depressed mood that I could barely write. Be glad I do not self-mutilate. For the record, I would like to state that I do not own Slayers or slit my wrists.
Juu-san
The puck hit the rigid surface of the ice, Gourry and the American center once again went head-to-head in frozen warfare and the crowd was loving every second of it. Cheers and jeers alike arose from the orange, black, red, white, blue and green mass. Mass pandemonium was engulfing all, for this was the third period: the final stretch of game time before the winner declared.
Willy Jones slammed into the man Gourry was struggling against for the puck and knocked him to the ground. Gourry instantly passed the ebony piece of rubber to Nathaniel Cor. The two men then shot down the ice together, charging straight for the American goalie. They were joined by Volker Ton as they attempted to plow through the American defense.
Everything was going according to plan.
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"Daddy," Amelia sighed. "Please get down off the table."
"I want a good view!" Prince Phil replied. He was sitting on a tabletop in their skybox suite and pressing his face against the glass like a kid outside a toy store.
"It is embarrassing Daddy," Amelia said unemotionally. She looked down at the ice to watch Zelgadis prevent a shot from becoming a goal. It brought a smile to her face. She too could feel the rush of the game as Ed Daiyo was slammed into the boards and Jean Biope went on a breakaway with the puck. Ice hockey was definitely her favorite sport. It was what introduced her to her best friends, her lover, even bringing her here to the Winter Olympics. With a chill in the air, a roar in the crowd and a breath of condensation, she was thankful for the very fact that she was there.
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"What a game this is turning into!" AirJay half squealed in excitement. The amount of adrenaline pumping through is body at that moment could have only been matched by a professional wrestling match.
"Calm yourself Dear," Naga warned.
"I can't help it!" AirJay said with absolute exhilaration. "Daiyo passes the puck to Biope, Biope to Penn... looks like Coach Inverse is going to do a line switch... Penn to Cay so that he can go to the bench... the Americans got the puck amongst the rotation of Seiryuun players... Axel and Michev loosen the puck and Brothers takes it down the ice... passes to Cay... Cay brings up his stick, shoots..."
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The buzzer system wailed ferociously, though very few in the arena heard it. Edwin Cay just scored Seiryuun's first goal of the game, tying the score at one. All of the Seiryuun players on the ice tackled Cay in their celebratory hugs. The game was tied. The crowd knew it, shouting wildly their adrenaline-driven screams. Lina was so happy that she nearly hugged Xellos, yet she caught herself just in time to be snatched up in an enormous bear hug from Elena.
"Alright! Alright!" Lina yelled once Elena let her go. "I need Cay and Brothers back on the bench to rest, now!"
Reluctantly, the two defensemen followed orders and the Van Dyne siblings took their places on the ice. Edwin Cay and Barry Jenkins were so pumped up that when they sat down on the bench, they could not keep still. They twitched and shook and rocked back and forth to keep their excitement from bursting.
I just hope benching them does not make them loose their edge, Lina thought to herself. Her concentration on the game was broken for a moment by the sight of someone on the other side of the rink with her exact flame-red hair and was smiling at Lina in a near mocking fashion.
Luna...?
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Jaques Monreal skated into the center face-off circle, opposite the American center. He wished that he was not the one to try to face this man, but that Gourry would come and save him. His body trembled in a mix of fear and excitement. Referee Ramon skated over so that he was between the two men as they both crouched down and readied their sticks.
"Remember man," the American smirked. "Whatever happens here, stays here."
"You said it," Jaques replied with a nervous laugh.
"Keep your stick on the ice."
"Same for you."
Time froze for Jaques as the puck dropped from the referee's hand onto the ice. Life became slow-motion as his muscles jerked in order to win the face-off. The American, who had nearly seemed friendly the second before, slammed into his body and forcefully knocked him to the ground.
So this must be what Gourry feels like...
Jaques's helmet collided with ice and his head rang with pain. Ignoring it, he immediately got up and chased after the American that stole the puck away. He wanted to score that winning goal. He knew the American wanted to score the winning goal as well. Jaques knew he could not allow that happen...
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Lina could not help to stare at the apparition of her sister that was looking at her over on the other side of the ice. Her clipboard dropped from her hand as she gazed in amazement.
Luna is not supposed to be here, Lina thought. She is supposed to be at home, in Manitoba. Why is she not in Manitoba with Ciepheid? If Luna is here, where is her fiancee Ciepheid? What in the hell is going on here?
"Lina!" Elena yelled, smacking her on the shoulder. "Earth to Lina Inverse!"
"What?" Lina snapped angrily, coming out of her daze.
"Please pay attention to the game Lina!" Elena pleaded. "There is only five minutes left in the game!"
"Right then!" Lina shouted over the roar of the crowd. "Let us win this! Come on guys! Line change! Axel, Michev, Monreal! Get back on this bench! I want Windmill Trio, Gourry and Penn on the ice! Zach, get a move on and join your cousins out there!"
With lighting speed, Jaques Monreal, Sean Axel and Alexandre Michev bolted towards the bench and Gourry, Zach Zimmerman and Sam Penn gracefully hopped over the boards and onto the ice to join the Van Dyne brothers. This was going to be the lineup that Lina was going to depend on in order to score. Even though she had Zach Zimmerman out there as a right wing instead of in his usual defensive position, Lina knew that there was an odd sort of understanding between the six men out on the ice. Including Zelgadis, they all knew what each other was thinking as far as plays and tricks were concerned, and Lina was hoping and praying that they would get in a goal.
That would show Luna, she thought. I can succeed and be the greatest coach ever! You warned me, but I am going to prove you wrong! I am not just your stupid little sister who constantly needs protecting! I will succeed! We will succeed!
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"Gourry! Watch out!" Sam Penn screeched. Just in time, Gourry avoided a nasty bodycheck from one of the American athletes. The pressure was put upon him even more than ever before, now that there was a tie game and less than five minutes left. Every second that ticked away seemed like an eternity. Gourry had not felt this nervous since he was in his first high school tournament. He was sick to his stomach and wanted to throw up right there on the ice. He knew that he couldn't. It was the Olympics and he was supposed to be representing his country. Gourry knew that if he let his nerves get the best of him, it would not only be an embarrassment to the people of Seiryuun, but a really big mess on top of it all.
"Thanks Sam!" Gourry shouted out. He then went over and tried to assist Frank Van Dyne in releasing the puck from American control. They were successful and Lyman Van Dyne took it over to the American net and made a shot with all this strength. The goalie blocked it however, sending the rebound out into fair territory. From there, one of the Americans retrieved the puck and tried to skate over to Zelgadis in order to score. A quick wrist shot and the chimera blocked the near goal as well as the American goalie could. Cheers erupted from the stands as Zelgadis blocked the shot, as well as several rebounds. Seconds became minutes as the time ticked away until there was only about sixty seconds left.
...and that was when it all happened.
Gourry stole the puck away from the Americans and bolted down the ice at top speed. One of his opponents knocked him over and tried to commandeer the puck, yet the Van Dyne brothers made sure that did not happen. They sandwiched him between themselves and allowed their cousin Zach to reclaim the puck and continue down Gourry's path. He passed it over to Sam, who then passed it to Gourry as he skated into the American zone. From there, Gourry passed it on to Frank. Frank to Sam. Fifteen seconds left. Sam to Lyman. Lyman to Sam. Sam to Zach. Zach to Gourry. Five seconds. Gourry brings up his stick. Wood connects with rubber. A black blur flies through the air at mach speed. Three. Two. One...
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"THE GAME IS OVER!" AirJay yelled excitedly, punching the snot out of the air in front of him. "THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS, YOU HEARD ME, THE GAME IS OVER! SEIRYUUN WINS IT WITH A LAST SECOND GOAL BY GOURRY GABRIEV! SEIRYUUN WINS THE GOLD MEDAL!" AirJay was doing a very happy dance in the radio broadcast booth. Kiko preformed a little doggy celebration dance as well. Air Jay and Kiko even danced together, AirJay bent down to hold Kiko's paws as they did what seemed very close to a jig. Only Naga did not dance. She just stared down at the celebration below on the ice and smiled a soft, un-Naga-like smile.
Good job boys, she thought to herself. You have really done your country proud. You deserve every bit of this glory. Zelgadis, I am glad that my sister has you. She deserves every second of the time the two of you have. Take care.
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The scene was sheer pandemonium. Helmets, gloves and sticks were strewn across the ice in pell-mell fashion. The entire Seiryuun team was on the ice and the fans would have been too if there were not the boards to block them. Girlfriends, wives, sisters, brothers and parents of the teammates were able to force their way onto the ice to congratulate their loved ones. As Zelgadis was congratulated by the Yerbinski twins, Amelia ran out onto the ice. As she rushed over to her friends and lover, she lost balance in her heeled shoes and fell flat on her rear end. Laughing merrily, Zelgadis glided over to her and helped her up. Once Amelia was upright again, she threw her arms around Zelgadis and kissed him as hard as she could. Gourry and Lina tried to kiss as well, but they were interrupted far to often to do so properly. First Xellos decided to part them, then Frederick and Elena, then that Scrik person wanting an interview again... so Lina and Gourry just decided that they would celebrate properly after the initial excitement was over.
"Please tell us Gourry, how does it feel to have scored the game-winning goal for the ice hockey gold medal in your country's Olympic debut?" Scrik asked, jamming the microphone into Gourry's face."
"Absolutely awesome!" Gourry said, near completely out of breath from the energy of everything going on around him. "I do not know if I ever thought I was going to be here, not even when I was told we were going to the Olympics, or even when we started the game earlier!"
"Coach Inverse, can you give us a comment?" Scrik asked. Lina just went right past Scrik and ran over towards a lone female figure standing there on the ice. It was her sister Luna.
"What are you doing here?" Lina asked.
"I wanted to see my little sister, why else?" Luna smiled.
"I thought you were in Manitoba."
"I was, until three days ago."
"Where is Ciepheid?"
"At home."
"He did not want to see his future sister-in-law as an Olympian then?"
"No, I just told him that he could not come. I wanted to see my sister by myself."
"I did it," Lina said with a devilish grin. "You said I couldn't do it, but I did. I taught them to be Olympians when you said I should have stayed in Manitoba with you. I proved you wrong."
"Good job little sister," Luna laughed. She looked over Lina's shoulder to see a rotund, old Olympics official walking over to them with a medal in his pudgy hands for Lina. Luna motioned for Lina to turn around and when she did, she was immediately greeted with the shiny disk.
"Congratulations Coach Inverse," the man said as he put the medal around her neck. Lina smiled, said thank you and then happily looked over at Gourry, who was standing on a platform that some men had brought out onto the ice for the captain of the winning team to stand on. The names of Seiryuun, Gabriev and Graywords echoed through the air in chants, as well as Van Dyne and Zimmerman and the other athletes. It made Lina so smug that she could barely contain herself.
"I'm proud of you Lina," Luna whispered in her sister's ear. Lina grinned a smile from ear to ear. This was sure to become the grandest day of her entire life.
Parodies/References I Do Not Own So the Copyright Lawyers Should Just Leave Me Alone
Luna: Please do not hurt me! I have never seen Luna before in my entire life, as of the posting of this chapter. I have no freakin' idea what the woman looks like, just the fact that she is Lina's elder sister and works for some guy named Ciepheid. Be sure to smack me if you feel the urge to. -laughs maniacally- I do not even know who Ciepheid is! SQUIRRELY IGNORANCE ABOUND! -laughs some more- Man, am I on something or coming down? X.x
The Suspenseful Last Goal: How'd I do? How'd I do? -jumps up and down- This got me out of depression! Huzzah!
Kiko and AirJay's Dance of Random Doom: Please insert nearest Shakira CD now.
The End of the Game: Is the end of ice hockey like this in the Olympics? Who's to say. I forgot. Forgive my squirrely ignorance. It runs rampant, as you have figured by my bit about Luna.